Twelve years ago, there might have been a hint of the blue wave that would sweep Lake County elections this year when then-Democrat Mark Curran won his race for sheriff.

Two years later Curran switched parties, and this month he was among the Republicans who were swept from office in Lake County.

“To the men and women in blue, we begin a new chapter centered on law enforcement and I am looking forward to work with you over the coming years,” John Idleburg said after ballots were tallied Tuesday, giving the challenger a 137-vote edge.

Idleburg, 62, of Zion Township, was declared winner of the race Tuesday after provisional and absentee ballots gave him 50.03 percent of the vote over Curran’s 49.97 percent. A retired special agent with the United States Treasury, he started his career in law enforcement in 1977 as a sheriff’s deputy after enlisting in the United States Marine Corps after high school.

Curran, 55, of Libertyville, began his law enforcement career serving as an intern in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office in 1988 and became an Assistant Lake County State’s Attorney’s in 1990. He then went on to the Illinois Attorney General’s Office where he prosecuted gang crimes.

Curran was introspective Wednesday about his loss, saying he has a great family and he believes there must be a plan for him.

“I might have to move on to my next chapter,” he said. “But I’m grateful for having the opportunity to serve. There must be a plan because I don’t doubt God,” he said.

A recent jail death and an October “no confidence” vote by the union representing sheriff’s deputies became campaign issues. The union vote passed with 50 deputies voting yes while 25 opposed and 70 did not vote.

John Idleburg campaign

John Idleburg.

John Idleburg. (John Idleburg campaign)

Lake County Sheriff's Office

Mark Curran

Mark Curran (Lake County Sheriff's Office)

Besides those obstacles, it appeared that a wave of Democratic voters showed up at the polls in Lake County, where the party showed gains in other races, too.

Democrats also won a majority of the seats on the Lake County Board, a first in county history dating to 1839, and swept the three countywide offices.

“The sweep is complete, it was as blue as blue could be,” said State Sen. Terry Link of Vernon Hills, the county's Democratic Party chairman. The Democrats now hold 12 seats, and the Republicans hold 9on the county board, and the sheriff, treasurer and clerk are all in the Democratic camp now.

Mark Shaw, chairman of the Lake County Republican Central Committee did not return calls for comment Wednesday.

Following the election, he noted in a Facebook post hat local Republicans outperformed the GOP in other suburban counties.

“Unfortunately, despite your extraordinary efforts, the results were not what we wanted to see,” Shaw wrote on the party’s Facebook page. “Nevertheless, you can be proud that our wins outnumbered our losses and Lake County Republicans managed to erect a larger ‘firewall’ against the much heralded ‘blue wave’ than did many of our sister Republican organizations in the other collar counties.”

Link predicted there would be no chaos in transition as he offered an olive branch of sorts by saying the Democrats were looking forward to work with the Republicans in office.

“You’ll see some changes, but I think the transition will be as smooth as can be. These are not the days of patronage anymore. There won’t be wholesale firings,” he said.

He said Sandy Hart, a Democratic county board member from District 13, is in the running for county board chairman.

“She and others are very much in the running,” he said.

He said Lake County politics have been transitioning for almost 20 years.

“I saw it slowly changing,” he said. Another sign this election could be a blue wave came in early March when the number of ballots cast by Democrats totaled 59,173, compared to 38,211 by Republicans.

Link said unpopular Republicans like Gov. Bruce Rauner and President Donald Trump helped Democrats. The investigation into former Republican Lake County Board Chairman Aaron Lawlor’s use of a procurement card, which is still under a state police investigation, and the resignation of State Rep. Nick Sauer, R-Lake Barrington, after allegations of sharing intimate photos of an ex-girlfriend in cyberspace also helped his party, Link said.

Link believes a lot of Republicans felt abandoned by their party and voted Democratic to send a message. There was also a lot more young woman entering politics, he said.

“You could see it at the polls; people were refusing Republican pamphlets saying ‘nope I’m voting Democrat.’ You could tell that something was in the wind,” Link said.

Democrat Julie Simpson won her race to replace Lake County Chairman Aaron Lawlor in Vernon Hills’ District 18 and hopes to work with other county board members.

“The future is ethics and transparency reform, sooner rather than later,” she said Wednesday.

Carol Calabresa, interim county board chairman and the longest serving county board member having been on the board since 1986, was edged out by Democrat Jennifer Clark. An economics professor at both Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis., and Roosevelt University in Chicago, Clark has said her focus is on smart economic development and conservation of natural resources.

Calabresa said she enjoyed her run on the board.

“There were so many wonderful opportunities to work with people where we changed lives and saved lives,” she said Wednesday. Highlights of her tenure included the opening of the Independence Grove Forest Preserve in Libertyville and the 35 new forest preserves that were added to the district.

“That’s over 20,000 acres of forest preserve land and that is right at the top of the list,” she said. “We also saved the lives of hundreds of people with naloxone and finding treatment beds for people seeking treatment for their addiction. That’s what made the job so rewarding,” she said.

Charles “Chuck” Bartels lost his race in Mundelein’s 10th District to Democrat Jessica Vealitzek.

“It was a tight race, but I had a good group of volunteers and we had a lot of fun. I feel good about what we did even though we came up short,” Bartels said.

Vealitzek said she is looking forward to working with a great group of people.

“I’m going to focus on ethics reform and transparency,” she said. “I’m a bit idealistic about government. I like to keep some of my idealism,” she said. “There are many people we can learn from, veteran board members as well,” she said.